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For the past week, nothing much has been going on, and so I have had little to write about. When I was living in Saskatoon, one day was pretty much the same as the other, and yet I felt I still had a lot of things to write about. Maybe it's a side-effect of this place. I don't have any time to think or to do the things I care about, so in turn I have -- nothing. Well, nothing much.

Originally we had planned to go down to Stoon earlier, but plans changed. The current plan is that we will be going down to get my stuff next week, over the weekend. So we'll get it, and bring it back here, and then somehow I will have to find a way to fit all of my personal belongings into my room. That'll be, er, challenging.

So many things are frustrating right now, and I'm not sure I want to talk about it. Mostly it's just the whole living with parents thing. Ugh, I want to get out of here. I do love my parents, really, but I've come to realise that my mother is the kind of person that I would not want to associate with if I was not related to her. In many ways, she is not... not a good person. Being around her is almost toxic sometimes.

In other (and far better) news, I made blueberry cinnamon crumble muffins today and they were extremely delicious.

( Photo because I can )

The recipe is here if anyone wants it. I doubled it, and the result was twelve.

I have been trying to keep up with my indexing but I've been slacking a bit. Been trying to keep up with writing fanfiction, too, and though I have been able to get my daily drabbles done, I haven't really had any drive to do anything substantial in a very long time now. But when I am able to sit down and write properly (and gods know when that will be) I will do it. I look forward to it.

I couldn't sleep at all last night. I rolled around for a while, and after a few hours of that, gave up on sleep altogether. I was awake when the sun rose, and after thinking about what to do with my morning, I decided to go down to the river to take photos of graffiti.

Man, there was way more new stuff than I expected. Shooting these was awesome. As usual, I risked life and limb climbing over enormous rocks to get at them. Not gonna' lie, doing that probably is a little dangerous -- it's pretty damn easy to slip and get one's head bashed in. Fortunately I remembered to wear proper shoes this time. Anyway, let's go.

( Note: Very graphic heavy )

There are probably a lot more down in there that I didn't even see. But by the time I got down to there, my legs felt like jelly and it was way too warm out and I'd had enough. But I might go down again in a month's time, just to see if there's anything new. We'll see.

Even though it feels like I haven't been doing anything lately, I have; it's just that I haven't. Sort of. In a way.

I've been up down up down lately. Kind of going around in circles with my mood. Sometimes I wake up feeling horrible, other times not so much.

My mood today was bad. Need to work on that. But on the upside I got all the boring adult things done that I needed to do. I got my keys cut, so that's one thing to cross off the year's to-do list. This way if I break my housekey in the door again, at least I will have a spare on hand.

Went to the bank. Found out that I have more money in savings than I thought I did. It slipped my mind somehow. I hope by next summer I'll have 3K in there. Enough to get me to Finland, have spending money, and have some nice padding in case of emergency. Good. Well, I'm just over 2/3rds of the way there.

Working on my knitting. I'm happy with it. It's really awesome to be able to try something new and realize that hey, it's not as difficult as I thought it would be. I'd never tried knitting in round or purl stitching before, but now it looks like I can do it. And if I keep up with it, then maybe this stocking cap won't take forever to finish. After this, I want to try something more complicated, maybe mittens or armwarmers or something. We'll see. It seems like it would be harder, but maybe I'm just underestimating myself.

There is some kind of festival going on right now. Not sure if I want to go. Maybe I will. Maybe. And then Fringe is coming up. I'll probably want to see a few plays, or at least take in the sights, but we'll see. We'll see. I haven't even checked out the program yet, so I have no idea what's playing. We'll see.

Things have been an enormous clusterfuck lately. Crazy weather. Thunderstorms everywhere! I have no idea what's going on. My own life hasn't been making much sense either.

On a brighter note, I finally started reading the Kalevala. It had been collecting dust on my bookshelf for six months, but I was talking with Bice about it lately, and it turns out we both have the same translation/edition. So, we're going to kind of... read it together, I guess! Should be fun. At the very least, it'll be getting me reading something that requires more brain power to comprehend than Black Jack and Stephen King novels. Not that there's anything wrong with that stuff, but er, I should probably read somethin' else for a while.

So, I started it tonight. I'm only two cantos in, but I really like it so far. This translation is nice, not heavy or thick; it's good for leisure-reading.

Aside from thatttt nothing of note, except that I did get out to take some graffiti photos the other day! Unfortunately, while I did remember bug spray, I forgot to wear proper shoes, so I wasn't able to get any of the river-rocks. However, there was enough in other locations, so there we go. I actually did neglect to get photos of some - I'll have to go back later.

( Graffiti in Saskatoon: here we go again )

Aaaand that's it for now - until I remember to go out again, this time with bug spray, camera, and proper footwear.

First - greetings to the new people I have added. I don't have a fancy "get to know me" entry like some people do (when did those become en vogue, anyway?), but regardless, everything one needs to know about me is in my profile. I've been busy recently so I might be incommunicado here and there. Now, moving on....

I went for a walk this evening. Though it was getting late, the sun had not yet begun to set. It's clearly summer now, then. While I was out I took a look at the gardens... I found it strange how different the gardens are here in comparison to back home.

( Cut for plant talk )

Spent much of this evening reading. I should do it more often; I've been very stressed out recently (again), and it helps me calm down. I've been making my way through Anderson's fairy tales, and soon after that I'll probably tackle another volume or two of Black Jack, or possibly Persepolis, as I now own both volumes. I studied Persepolis in a class a few years ago - it was on comics as literature - but we only did the second volume for reasons that I can't quite recall. Maybe just because my professor was a bit crazy. Anyway, I never got the chance to read the first volume until now.

On the fandom front, been keeping up with indexing, but haven't been writing. I've been trying, but my heart just hasn't been into it these past few days; I can barely get a sentence out. Well, I'll let it be for now, I suppose. I've other things to be thinking about. I might try editing some old things, though; polishing them up a bit. We'll see.

While I was out I came across a poster that caught my attention - an advertisement for the local pagan midsummer festival. I was surprised and pleased - tempted at first to look into it, but then decided, no. It would be awkward for me, and besides, it costs money to go - money I should save for other things. Best let it be. I'll celebrate Solstice by myself in my usual way (possibly with the new addition of firecrackers). Still, it does make me feel good, knowing that the community here is large enough that something like that can exist. In the other places I've lived, there weren't really enough people to support something like that. So, it's nice knowing I'm not alone.

MAN. The past week or so has been so goddamn busy, I don't even. And yet, I feel like I was doing nothing, 'cause all I was doing was homework. So so so boring. :| BUT. NOW I'M DONE. AND MY EXAM IS DONE. SO. THAT'S THAT. Though there's still other stuff that needs to be done but uh, I don't even care, man.

Now I'm just happy and relaxed and maybe slightly tipsy and just so so so so happy. Maybe it's not just because of school being less stressful from now on (I think), maybe it's got a lot to do with spring coming. When I was out walking today, I saw shoots sprouting up in someone's flower garden, and I noticed that if you look real close at the bushes alongside the sidewalks, you can see buds on them. Yesssss.

I've been working on some writing - just a little bit - and it's coming on so well, and I'm so happy. Everything's been done by hand, and not just fanfiction but school stuff too, and while before my hand would hurt after so much work, it doesn't now. It feels a little tight, but no pain. I'm going to take this as a sign of improvement. SO. IT MEANS I CAN WRITE. ... though I should probably rest for a few days orz. But then I'll go back to writing about those sexy gay countries, oh yes.

I went to McNally Robinson this evening, partly just for something to do, but also partly 'cause there was a novel I wanted to get. And they did have it! Yesss. I normally don't buy my books there because it's so expensive but sometimes they have stuff even Amazon doesn't have. 'n now I have my copy of Hold Fast. Really happy about that, because even though it's a YA novel, it's still one of the best Canadian novels I've read. It's too bad I still don't have my nice hardcover edition though... it was so pretty. ARGH I wish I hadn't had to get rid of so many of my books when I was moving from Nova Scotia; that sucked. But, now I can re-read it. I also picked up Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb... they had Unseen Academicals too, but I think I'll wait until it comes out in paperback. Ffff speaking of hardcovers I went through the history section not expecting to find anything... and I kind of didn't... but they did have a big fat book about the history of the Vikings and such and it looked really good but it was fifty bucks, guhhh. No, I didn't buy it. Maybe I'll see if the school library has it. Or wait until paperback. Getting stuff from the library is all right, but I like to make notes in my historybooks and put stickytabs on the pages I find interesting and stuff. I never want to give back library books, derp.

ANYWAY. Cool story, bro. When I was heading back I decided to walk home. I missed the bus, so I figured, WHATEVER. It'll take less time for me to walk home than it would to wait for the bus. So I just... walked home. It took me about an hour. :| I keep forgetting how far away the book store is from my place. BUT. IT WAS SO NICE OUT. Not too hot, not too chilly, juuuuust right. MAN I love this time of year. Except for the part that everything still hasn't cleaned itself up from winter, so there are dead leaves everywhere and the grass isn't green yet... but at least it's nice and cool. Ahhhh~

This last week has been full of SO MUCH FAIL and I am just so displeased with myself. Sorry if I haven't been very conversational, guys. Or if I've seemed like kind of a downer. Tomorrow (technically today) is the start of a new week, and I'm going to try so much harder to pull myself up - or at least not bring other people down. I really need to turn things around.

I need to stop wearing my hat constantly. I swear, if I do that all the time, I'll go bald. ... Or at least have really bad hair. Speaking of which, I should get it cut soon. It's starting to get hella long. Annoying. On the other hand, it's nice to be able to tie it back if I want to.

Gahhhh. Well, Easter is coming up next month, and I'm going to crosscheck with my schedule and, if everything is clear, ask mum if I can come up to Fort Mac to visit for a few days. It would be nice to be around family for a short while - and aside from that, there are some people in Fort Mac that I need to have sign some things so that I can get my passport. I don't know anyone in Saskatoon, so I'll have to get someone from Fort Mac to fill the forms as guarantor etc. Hmm this means I'll have to get the photos done ASAP as well. Sigh. I was hoping I could get most things done here, but since so many things need someone else's signature, it's better if I just wait until I go back home again.

Passport stuff aside, whenever I go home mum gives me a little extra money for groceries 'n things, which is nice. I kind of need it right now. It'll be a while yet before school is over and I can get myself some work, and until then I want to do as much as I can to prevent myself from having to dip into my travel money.

Well. Life might be full of suck, but at least spring is coming. It's coming! I can smell it! Everything's melting. Unfortunately that means that everything is freezing, too. The walk outside my apartment building's front door is absolutely slick with ice, especially the part that crosses the alleyway. Wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to walk across it every time I go out. If things don't improve in a couple days I'm going to see if I can do something about it. Salt it or put down kitty litter like my mum does to her front walk, or something like that.

Sigh. I wish my wrist was healed. I HAVE A FIC I WANT TO WRITE. Goddamnit. Well. I'll console myself by tweaking dialogue for my entry in Ellie's caption contest (ohohoho). And doing the storyline writeup for my Swe/Nor fst, because I can do that on the computer. And... doing physio exercises. Ughhhhh. I have another appointment for that next week. I feel things haven't improved much. And that's another $50 out of my pocket. I just -- ugh, I'm so depressed about this wrist of mine, it's ridiculous.

Soo-oo. I finally downloaded more music by Hedningarna; previously I'd only listened to a few of their songs up on Youtube, including "Pornopolka", which I love. Anyway, snagged a couple albums, and holy shit I think I'm in love. I don't know, something about it goes right down and twists the guts. When I have an emotional reaction like that, I know I've come across something.

The snowfall over the weekend rendered the city a bit of a clusterfuck. I went out yesterday to get my x-rays done, and the going was not-so-good. Buses were running really slowly, and they kept getting stuck in the snow. Actually, a couple days ago, I saw one that had slipped or something and was stuck on the curb; it hut the bus-stop sign, even - and that's still knocked down. Anyway, it was slow going. Fortunately it wasn't too cold yesterday, as I had to walk from the main terminal to the medical centre. Afterward I decided, "fuck this", and made the decision to just walk home instead of waiting for the bus again. It probably took less time than waiting for the bus would.

Anyway, the x-ray thing went well. It was just a quick in-and-out, and I doubt if the entire thing, including the waiting, took more than fifteen minutes. I still have other things that need to be done in relation to taking care of my wrist issue; bloodwork, and also some physical therapy. I'd originally intended to do that today after school, but because the weather was so bad and I was very tired I decided that it was better if I just go straight home.

( Babbling about MLP )

So far, I've done pretty well with my resolutions for the year. I'm excited about that. Previous years, I haven't really made any resolutions at all, so attempting to keep up with something has been fun. What I'm probably going to do is recap on the last day of the month how my progress has gone with everything. Fabulous. <3

This is just ridiculous.

-43C/-45.4F? Are you fucking kidding me, Saskatchewan?

( Apparently not )

This is ridiculous. :| I think maybe I'll just lock myself in my house and stay there FOREVER. Gods fucking damn.

I had considered going out for supper tonight because I stayed home the entire day yesterday and now of course that means I'm antsy as hell, but uh... yeahhhh not sure how I feel about that now. Sure, it's not a huge deal if you dress properly, but argh, I just don't feel like it. :| Maybe I'll just camp out at the cafe all day.

In other news, I spoke with Stephen yesterday. He's the guy who has lived in our building the longest, and he knows things. The furnace has been going crazy the last couple days; making the weirdest fucking noises all day and all night. He said that it seems to be the same problem we had last year, something to do with the radiator system. I can't quite explain it, but basically things are fucked up, and if we don't figure out what's going down then we might end up with another broken furnace again. Considering how cold it's been, and how hellish last year was with the furnace broken in the winter, you can guess that I'm not too thrilled about that idea.

Trying to sleep last night was rather entertaining, what with the furnace making those noises, sounding like it could explode at any moment - and my bedroom right over the furnace room, hah. :| Sometimes it'd stop for a couple minutes, and whenever it would stop, I'd count, waiting for the "Kaboom". Sigh.

Anyway. Schoolwork is currently kicking my ass somethin' awful and I feel like I'm going insane. It's probably going to be the same up until midnight on the 22nd. Lovely. After that, family stuff. But after that, I'll be free for a few days! .... I'm returning to Saskatchewan on the 2nd or something. Damn, what a short-ass vacation. SIGH. But I have a pretty light second semester so like, maybe what I'll do is when school starts up again, I'll go to my class and then just... catch up on all my sleep after that. *facedesk*

Took this last night. We have snow. I am not impressed. :| TOO FUCKING EARLY. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, NATURE? Anyway.

PSA: Going away for a few days. Gasp, whatever will y'all do without my daily tl;dr?

I'll be leaving in a couple of hours to go to my relatives' house for Thanksgiving. I'll be gone until Sunday evening, and I won't be taking my laptop with me. Might have access while I'm there, but not much. So, the best way to contact me will be through LJ and through PM.

I have nothing else to say except that I did not get enough sleep and I foresee that I shall be very cranky in the near future. :|

Oh yes, and the issue I was having with a friend has been completely cleared up. Everything's fine now. I can stop losing sleep over it. <3

[edit 12:30 AM] safe and sound in Alberta. Get good reception with itouch but writing on it is a pain. Catching up on Flist and the meme. You guys write too much ;p